The nominees for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards are in, and there are some wonderfully familiar names in the television category. Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad, Claire Danes for Homeland, Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey, and Tina Fey for 30 Rock are just a few of the much-deserved nominations, and it's a nice surprise to see that Girls made it to the Best Comedy category.

Conspicuously absent, however, are two of television's most popular shows. The Walking Dead managed to pull in 15.2 million viewers for its midseason finale this year (even beating out the series finale of Lost back in 2010!), but the Hollywood Foreign Press Association must not be a fan. Also missing in action from the list of nominees -- and in my opinion, a FAR more grievous omission -- is Game of Thrones.

Not to be mean or anything, but Matt LeBlanc got a best performance nod over PETER DINKLAGE? I call shenanigans.

I'm not actually super shocked Walking Dead didn't make the list. It's an enormously fun show to watch, but I wouldn't say it's been overflowing with transcendent acting and the kind of scriptwriting that makes you want to buy the DVD box set just so you can dork out to the commentary. We're glued to the set because of the zombies and the constant threat of death, not necessarily because we can't wait to see what each character says and does. Major props to Andrew Lincoln for a particularly emotional scene this season, but overall, I'm not sure anyone on this show deserves a "best of anything" nod quite yet.

Well, aside from Most Disgusting & Bloodily Gruesome Special Effects, which isn't a Globes category. Sadly.

Game of Thrones, on the other hand, is a whole different ballgame. Where's Peter Dinklage, who plays the shit out of Tyrion Lannister each season? Did he already fulfill his allotted lifetime of awards, having scored a 2011 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, and a 2012 Golden Globe for Best Actor in in a Supporting Role? I mean, come on, wasn't the second season of GoT exactly as worthy as the first, if not more so?

An editor from The Hollywood Reporter suspects that in general, the Hollywood Foreign Press isn't drawn to genre material:

They don’t get much love from the HFPA for the same reason that they don’t get much love from the Emmys, or why genre movies rarely get much love from the Oscars: Sci-fi or fantasy or horror are seen as childish things. And, unless they’re rewarding a performance that ‘elevates’ the material, they’d just as soon keep ‘high-art’ on the pedestal. Which is, as anyone who watches these shows can attest, a short-sighted shame.

The HFPA has been accused for decades of choosing nominees who will make for a more glittering guest list of boldface names than a credible roster of merit-worthy artists. And who would you rather invite to your party, Dead's Andrew Lincoln (who?) or Mad Men's Jon Hamm?

I have no idea, but my guess is that this year there were just a lot of great dramas to choose from. A good problem for us viewers to have, but a bummer for our favorites which didn't make the cut.

On the other hand, that doesn't explain why Sons of Anarchy was snubbed yet again. Jimmy Smits, you were robbed.

What shows would you have nominated for the Globes this year? Are you surprised Game of Thrones and Walking Dead didn't make the list?